St Mary's Greek Catholic School

When most of the population of the United States  thinks of schools and hospitals, we think of them as public institutions that have always existed and always will. The reality is that they both trace their origins back to the Catholic church in early ninteeth century. Nearly 100 years after the first parochial school was founded, St. Mary's Assumption of Trenton established a K-8 facility on a lot across Malone St from their house of worship. 

The school was built in 1921. The facade was made of buff brick with limestone accents, a common design choice for the time. It rose three stories on a linear footprint, with classroom space on the first two floors and a large "gymatorium" on the third. 

Everything about the facility was classic parochial school. It had 11 foot ceilings on every floor. Large transom windows sat above each door in order to encourage air flow on warm days. 

Like so many neighborhood buildings the school operated without much fanfare as the neighborhood evolved around it. A large arson attack destroyed the parish church in 1956, along with nearly a dozen others. It took three years to rebuild. During the rebuild process mass was held inside the gym. 

The school officially closed in 1999. Like many other catholic schools it continued to be maintained and used for parish activities. Since churches don't pay taxes, its easy for them to sit on property rather than immediately selling off or demolishing their empty buildings. This ended up paying off during the demolition and reconstruction of Trenton Central High School in 2015. Some students from that facility were sent to St Mary's until the new high school opened in 2019. 

St. Mary's parish took advantage of the recent refurbishment and ended up putting the building on the market immediately after Trenton Central reopened. It was sold the following year. The new owners immediately replaced the roof, but aside from that nothing happened with the building for another several years. Renovation work finally began in 2026 with the goal of reopening the space as apartments. The entire building was gutted back to bare walls, erasing the well kept 1920s floorplan. 

The building will undoubtedly be more productive as apartments than it has been for the last 5 or so years, so I'll count this as a win. 

Thanks for reading.

St. Francis Medical Center

Ive always found the early history of the US healthcare industry fascinating. While doctors operated private practices and made house calls, the first purpose built hospitals in New Jersey were opened by the Catholics. Though often starting small, they would eventually grew into sprawling building campuses, seeing citizens of their home cities into and out of this world. One of the largest campuses of this type in the state was located right in our capital. 

Source: TFPNJ Postcard Archive 

The Sisters of St Francis of Philadelphia established the first hospital in Trenton in 1874.  The original building was a small two story converted schoolhouse. Shortly afterwards a large three story brick building was built on the same plot.

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One of the most significant early additions was a massive turn of the century Gothic Revival chapel designed by noted Philadelphia church architect Edwin Forrest Durang. 

Source: TFPNJ Postcard archive

Durang was a Philadelphia architect known for his catholic churches. The building was added to the south side of the three story dormitory in 1894.

Source: TFPNJ Postcard Archive 

In the early 1950's a large new wing was built at the corner of Bert and Hamilton Avenues. 

In 1957 a brand new school of nursing was built at the corner of Bert & St. Francis Avenues. 

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The hospital underwent a massive reconstruction effort in 1963. Almost all of the historic brick buildings were demolished. A new chapel and medical tower were built on the cleared land. 

Source: TFPNJ Postcard Archive

"Nun performing surgery" United Press Internatkonal Photo
TFPNJ Historic Photo Archive

The beautiful old nurses dorm was demolished in the early 1980s and replaced with a parking garage. A new service entrance was added along Chambers Street.

In 2006 a new entrance was added along Chambers Street. A breezeway was also built connecting the parking garage to the main hospital building. 

Despite the constant upgrades, St. Francis hospital announced they were closing down in 2022. The state insisted that some services remain on site past the closure, so an agreement was made with Capital Health to lease space and maintain basic care. Any serious issues would be transported to the main hospital on Brunswick Ave. 

Unfortunately the plan was short lived, as structural issues forced Capital Health out on June 25th, 2025. A fence was immediately put up around the perimeter of the campus, with signs redirecting those in need to the Brunswick Ave site. 

I had been trying to get inside the vacant sections of the hospital since it first closed with no success. Now that the building was fully empty and security was posted up outside I felt more comfortable working my way in. 

The security team was one of the most well equipped I have encountered so far. Not only were there two gaurds, so both sides of the hospital had eyes, but they also did foot patrols every hour to check for break ins. They employed a Deggi system, which is a security check in tool that increases vigilance. At each corner of the property were 24/7 remote monitored camera towers.

Articles were being published discussing the impending demolition of the hospital in local papers. Another article from September specifically talked about how crews were thoroughly boarding up the hospital to deter trespassers and scrappers. That article specifically mentions Mercer Hospital, another huge abandoned medical center across the city that had become an absolutely lawless headache for city leaders. I wasn't going to be put off though. I love a challenge.

During one of my rounds I noticed a second story window was sitting open. It was out of reach, so I started looking around for a pallet or garbage can I could use. It still would have been a climb, but I could have managed. Then I noticed something out of the corner of my eye; a ladder leaning against the parking garage. From where I was planning on hopping the fence I wouldn't even have to break my stride to grab the ladder. The window was in a recess, so the cameras wouldnt actually be able to see me climbing in..... was this actually about to work out? 

The spot where I hopped the fence was hidden from the street by a van. A tree blocked the cameras. I bent down and blocked my body with the ladder as I dashed to the window. These camera towers had speakers on them to alert trespassers that they've been recorded and security is notified. When I didn't get called out I assumed I was probably okay. The ladder was the perfect height, so I was inside in seconds. I couldn't leave the ladder leaned up against the window though, that would alert security while they did their rounds. Knowing I could dangle and drop to the soft grass below, I decided to push the ladder down. It nested into the tall grass so well that it was instantly camouflaged the second it touched down.

I didn't need a flashlight inside the buildings since the power was still on. That meant the interior cameras could also be working, I just had to roll the dice on that. The bigger issue was that I couldn't see outside as well as they could see me. There were also a number of missing windows on the backside of the auditorium where one of the gaurds sat. I had to crouch down to get from room to room.

Unfortunately the nursing school didnt connect to the main hospital building, so I had to go back outside to get to move on. The chapel was an obvious point of interest so thats where I headed.

The original 1890s chapel was demolished in 1963 and replaced by a contemporary design. The space was never utilized by Capital Health when they moved in, so it was just starting to decay a bit. 

Almost all of the medical equipment was long gone despite the space being very clean inside. The emergency room had already been gutted inside so there was nothing to see there. 

After finding the surgical rooms had also been stripped I spent most of the rest of my time in the basement looking for a morgue, which I never did find.

Despite expecting so much more inside I was glad to have had a chance to see it for myself. Shortly afterwards the parking garage was demolished, fully exposing my old way inside to the cameras.

 

The nursing school was the next to come down, with the demolition progressing northwards. It wasn't long before crews were tearing into the main hospital buildings. 

Its pretty wild to see the differences between what's happened with the St. Francis site compared to Mercer Hospital. While I'm sad I didn't have more time with St. Francis I'm also glad it never became a blighted ball and chain to the neighborhood. 

Thanks for learning with me. 

Mercer Hospital

Back in the late 1800s, the need for medical care in the city of Trenton was growing. In 1892 the Fisk family offered up some land on the west side of the city to to the board of directors for the new hospital, dubbed the Mercer Hospital. Much like the Muhlenberg Hospital, The formation of the hospital was largely thanks to a local Women's Auxiliary who petitioned, fundraised, and helped plan the facility. Three years later the hospital was operational, and had its very own nursing school. At the time, medical care was being offered out out of old  Fisk mansion on the property. This was very common. Elizabeth, Jersey City, Newark, and Orange all had hospitals that began in homes.

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In 1902 the hospital building was expanded with several departments added throughout the new wings. The hospital received several new additions over the next few decades, largely funded by private donors. A new power plant opened on the property in 1922, and by the 1930's the hospital was a large, tight cluster of buildings. 

The hospital maintained this size for several decades, but in 1958 a large new wing was constructed on the east side of the complex. Several houses on Rutherford Ave. were demolished to accommodate the construction. This was the tallest section that would ever rise at the complex.

In the mid 1970's a massive demolition project took place around the hospital. All the homes on both Rutherford and Bellevue Avenues were demolished the whole way down to Prospect St. the only building spared was a single old home on the corner of Prospect & Bellevue. A small office building was built on the land where the homes once stood, leaving a giant parking lot all around the buildings.

Construction on the campus finally ceased shortly afterwards. The completed building had a total of 650,000 square feet of building space, making it one of the largest hospital buildings in the state. By the turn of the century the building had expanded all it could but was rapidly becoming functionally obsolete. In 2005 plans were announced that operations were going to move to new building in Hamilton.

The community was not pleased to hear this. Hamilton was quite a distance from the neighborhood where Mercer Hospital stood. Residents were concerned that an ambulance dispatched from the new hospital would take far too long to reach them and then get back, whereas now they had medical care at their doorsteps. As always these concerns were largely ignored. By 2011 the hospital was closed its doors. They shuttered everything but their satellite emergency room, which was kept open in order to appease the angry citizens. However two years later the ER had closed as well.

In 2013 the complex was sold to a developer. The complex wasn't completely forgotten however. A security guard was hired to sit inside and scare off trespassers. He had all sorts of noise traps set up, and chains around several interior doors. Even if one managed to get inside, it was a pain to navigate. 

Unfortunately at some point security responsibilities shifted and the man was only inside for a few years. We weren't sure if he was still there the first time I visited the complex. It was clear on my second visit that he was indeed gone. Scrapping and other vandalism had significantly increased, all but ensuring the building will never see life as a hospital again. 

Plans are currently being discussed to return the property back to use for the community. Whether or not that means the entire building will be lost in the process remains to be seen. 

Junior High School #1/ Martin Luther King Jr. School

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Occasionally while writing posts for this blog, I hit roadblocks when doing research. Trenton's Junior High School #1 is no exception. The historic structure is one of two schools that shared property between MLK Jr. Boulevard and Brunswick Avenue. The other was the original Jefferson Elementary School.

The exterior design of the school is beautiful, and hasn't been corrupted much over the years. The imposing facade along MLK Boulevard is a great example of collegiate gothic architecture. The limestone trim and ornamentation has fared well, especially in contrast to the weathered brick that encapsulates it.

Stepping inside was a bit of a disappointment, as the building was clearly a hotspot for taggers and other vandals. As we worked our way through the building, there were still plenty of historic elements throughout the structure to keep our interest.

The main draw for me when I visit abandoned schools is the auditorium. Though many have been modernized over the years, that never happened here. What remained was almost a time capsule, if the damage done by those who visited before me can be overlooked.

 The school continued to impress me as we wandered around. The building had a pool installed in the late 1960s, which would be the last major improvement the building got.

The school also had a full sized gymnasium, with fat lancet windows. I haven't seen that in any of the other abandoned schools I've visited, which at the time this post was written includes roughly 40 different facilities in 8 different states.

At some point, the school was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. High School. The Trenton School District shuttered both schools in 2007, leaving the large portion of property completely disused. It wouldn't be for long though, as plans for a new school were approved for the land. The Jefferson school was demolished in 2008, starting with the auditorium.

After the demolition of the Jefferson school was completed, the machines turned on the Junior High School building. Working from the rear once again, they leveled a large section of building that stood behind the original structure. Normally that would be where the auditorium sits. Thankfully and strangely, the auditorium of this school was in a wing off the left side of the main entrance. For some reason demolition was never completed, and the historic main section of the building was left to rot.

The new school currently occupies the southeast portion of the lot, in the shadow of the grand old building which takes up the entire north side of the property. While I remain hopeful something will become of the school, Trenton has a piss poor reputation when it comes to saving their historic school buildings.  I'll continue to check up the site until I have something new to write.